Arsenal star Noni Madueke breaks silence after Mikel Arteta injury declaration

Arsenal winger Noni Madueke has taken to social media for the first time since he suffered a knee injury last weekend against Manchester City. The England international attacker is expected to miss between six to eight weeks of action after picking up the issue early in the first half.

Madueke has since quoted a verse (Philippians 4:6 NLT) from the Bible on his Instagram profile, which read: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done."

Madueke has hit the ground running in north London since his controversial £48.5million switch from rivals Chelsea. While the deal initially raised eyebrows, nobody can dispute that Madueke has brought fresh energy to Mikel Arteta's attack having also impressed on international duty with England.

Speaking on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the Carabao Cup trip to Port Vale, Arteta revealed Arsenal's medical staff are likely to conduct further tests on Madueke's knee next week. It's understood he has, however, avoided damage to his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

Arteta said: "He's going to be out for a few weeks. We don't really know yet, probably we're going to have to do a scan next week again. He felt something at the beginning of the match, he tried to carry on and half-time he was too sore, so that's it."

When asked if the expectation was that Madueke would miss just weeks as opposed to a number of months, the Spaniard continued: "We hope so. As I said, we need to scan him again to see the real extent of the injury, but it doesn't look too bad."

Meanwhile, Arsenal have plenty of cover and competition in the forward department. Max Dowman will be part of the squad against Port Vale while Gabriel Martinelli, Ethan Nwaneri and Leandro Trossard are also pushing for minutes.

The hope is that Madueke could be back to feature against Sunderland on November 8 before Arsenal face Tottenham after the international break on November 23. Madueke netted his first England goal in the recent 5-0 demolition of Serbia in Belgrade.

But he is virtually certain to miss the next international break after Arsenal's upcoming matches against Newcastle, Olympiacos and West Ham. The 23-year-old is gunning for a place in Thomas Tuchel's World Cup squad next summer and he has made notable progress on that front during recent camps.

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